DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reaffirmed Ankara's support to Syria’s stability and reconstruction following a meeting on Thursday with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus.
In a statement posted on X, Fidan pledged continued support for Syria’s fight against extremist groups, and reiterated Turkey's readiness to help manage camps in northeastern Syria that house people with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State group.
The two also discussed Israel’s
actions in Syria, Fidan said on X, accusing Israel of “pursuing a policy of destabilization in our region” and calling on the international community not to allow its “policies to prevail.”
Ankara has been a strong backer of the interim government in Damascus since former Syrian President Bashar Assad was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive in December. It was Fidan's third visit to Damascus since Assad's fall.
Syria last month requested Turkey’s support to strengthen its defense capabilities following sectarian violence that increased tensions in the country and drew Israeli intervention.
Clashes erupted last month between members of Bedouin tribes and armed factions from the Druze religious minority in Syria’s southern Sweida province. Government forces that intervened, ostensibly to quell the fighting, ended up siding with the Bedouins.
Israel then launched strikes on government convoys in Sweida and on the Defense Ministry headquarters in Damascus, saying it was acting to protect the Druze.
Turkey has been vocally critical of Israeli intervention in Syria and also wants to curb the influence of the Kurdish groups controlling northeastern Syria.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has been a key U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group, but Ankara regards the SDF as a terrorist group because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.
In March, the SDF and Damascus reached an agreement to merge their forces, but its details were vague and the deal has not been implemented.
Turkish defense ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, accused the SDF Thursday of not following through on its commitment, adding that Ankara remains “committed to supporting the Syrian administration’s fight against terrorist organizations and to providing the requested training, advisory, and technical assistance to strengthen its defense and security capacity.”
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Fraser reported from Ankara.
